not to be a nitpicker ch'i, but are you focusing entirely on ufc? the ufc (while having some excellent fighters) is considered by many (me included) as a second tier promotion.
the ultimate fighter and the bouts that are shown on spike are not really indicative of the depth of mma.
i am afraid that you may be neglecting other mma events with fighters of a much higher calibur (i.e. pride fc)
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Originally Posted by Ch'i
The set way of doing things in the UFC has forced many fighters to do things that are unatural to their personal style, and ability. Everyone has their own style, whether they know it or not. Instead of developing smooth, expressive speed and movement in which they are comfortable, they seem to believe that it boils down to who trains the hardest via weights, and exercise. While exercise and weight training are important, it is equally important for them to develop that comfort with balance and motion. Proper balance and motion can be far more effective in delivering a strike than any amount of exercise. I find these things to be, for the most part, neglected in the UFC. The fastest method of training, in this case, has shunned areas of martial arts that are extremely important.
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when you said this i immediatly thought of crocop, fedor emilanenko, sakuraba, and wanderlei silva (in his heyday, he's declining a bit now)
you will not see anyone more balanced and relaxed when crocop delivers a left high kick that would drop a horse. he is a very good example of the sprawl and brawl fighter who can keep a fight in a zone he is comfortable with.
fedor recovered from being suplexed on his neck to win by arm bar over kevin randleman, not to mention his impeccable stand up (in my opinion he is the most balanced/complete fighter today).
sakuraba grapples so smooth it's scary.
and silva is pure effotless aggression.
these fighters are not stilted or predictable.
true they are the top tier atheletes, but your argument resonates with every martial art.
the problem of stagnation is not just within mma circles. all martial arts have practioners who do not achieve their best.
if anything, i believe that competitive mma'ers are some of the best trained, best conditioned, and most versatile fighters today.